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Arizona crashes Rockies' party

Colorado receives dose of '08 reality after getting rings

By Jack Etkin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 6, 2008 at 4:39 p.m.

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Colorado's Matt Holliday shows his frustration after striking out in the third inning Sunday at Coors Field. Holliday homered in the ninth to force extra innings, and Arizona won in the 10th.

Photo by Steve Dykes / Getty Images

Colorado's Matt Holliday shows his frustration after striking out in the third inning Sunday at Coors Field. Holliday homered in the ninth to force extra innings, and Arizona won in the 10th.

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In a pregame ceremony Sunday, the Rockies had one final chance to remember 2007 when they received their National League championship rings.

Then it was back to 2008 and more agony, the worst yet in this young season, as the Rockies lost 5-2 in 10 innings to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Arizona crammed five runs into the final two innings, paused momentarily after a tying home run in the ninth by Matt Holliday, and sent the Rockies to their fifth straight loss.

"We held the lead until the ninth, and to give it up makes it hurt a little bit more," shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said. "Hopefully, this is our low point and we don't experience this again."

The Diamondbacks' three- game series sweep against the Rockies was their first at Coors Field since July 7-9, 2006. The Rockies previously were swept in a home series Sept. 26-28, 2006, by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

For the longest while, it looked like the Rockies would eke out a 1-0 victory. They scored on Todd Helton's two-out single in the third, and Franklin Morales, who was outstanding in his 2008 debut, Taylor Buchholz and Brian Fuentes protected that slim margin, following the blueprint that led to closer Manuel Corpas.

Corpas gave up a leadoff single to Conor Jackson, followed two pitches later by Mark Reynolds' home run. But Holliday, who slammed his bat down in disgust after flying out to end the sixth, hit a one-out homer in the ninth off Arizona closer Brandon Lyon.

Micah Bowie, who had stranded the six runners he inherited in his first three games with the Rockies, came on in the 10th and gave up a homer to leadoff hitter Stephen Drew on a 1-0 slider.

"I'm trying to throw him something down in the zone and not hang it about belt high, so he could put a good swing on it," Bowie said. "It was a tremendous mistake on my part, and they make you pay for that."

Bowie retired the next two batters before Orlando Hudson blooped a single over the mound that third baseman Garrett Atkins made an unsuccessful sliding attempt to catch, and Jackson walked on four pitches. Reynolds followed with a run-scoring single, and pinch hitter Alex Romero did likewise with his first major league hit, against Ryan Speier, who joined the Rockies in midgame after being called up from Triple-A Colorado Springs to replace the injured Luis Vizcaino.

The Rockies got a huge boost from Morales, who allowed two singles while working six scoreless innings. He retired the first 11 batters he faced before Hudson singled with two out in the fourth.

Better yet, Morales left the bases loaded in the fourth, when he issued his two walks in succession, and stranded runners on second and third in the fifth. Morales threw 61 of 97 pitches for strikes.

"He threw first-pitch strikes," Helton said, "that was the biggest thing. He got ahead of hitters. Once he did that, he's got really good stuff, so it's tough for them to lay off some of those pitches."

Entering the game, the Rockies had led in only two of 45 innings, but after Helton's run-scoring single, they kept the lead for six innings before Corpas' blown save. In the first, second, seventh and 10th, the Rockies hit into double plays, a reason they went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, leaving them 5-for-50 (.100) in those situations.

They have scored two runs or fewer in five of their six games - that includes a 2-1 victory to begin the season Tuesday at St. Louis - and 10 runs overall. In six games, their batting average is .209, their on-base percentage is .281 and their slugging percentage is .333.

"Obviously, we haven't scored enough runs to expect to win any more than we've won," Holliday said. "We've put way too much pressure on the pitching staff. I think if we can get some guys going, myself included, we should be able to give our pitchers a little bit of room to breathe and that should help them."

The Rockies were very appreciative of the effort the organization put into the design of their championship rings and the pregame ceremony, which was attended by Bob DuPuy, president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball.

But after the typical festivities Friday at the home opener, the raising of the NL pennant Saturday and the ring ceremony Sunday, the Rockies are glad to leave all the celebrating from last year behind.

"Now we can focus on this year, quit thinking about what we did last year and move forward," Helton said. "We got to focus on this season and getting the job done, which is something we haven't done up to this point."

Three keys

Three keys to the Rockies' 5-2 loss in 10 innings to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field:

1 Closer Manuel Corpas blew his first save this season when he came on in the ninth with the Rockies leading 1-0 and gave up a single to Conor Jackson, followed by Mark Reynolds' home run.

2 After Matt Holliday homered to tie the score in the bottom of the ninth, Micah Bowie gave up a leadoff homer to Stephen Drew in the 10th and, with two out, a single, walk and run-scoring single before Ryan Speier gave up a walk and a run-scoring single.

3 After one-out singles in the second by Garrett Atkins and Yorvit Torrealba, Clint Barmes hit a low pop-up to second baseman Orlando Hudson, who was on the outfield grass when he lost the ball in the sun. Hudson forced Torrealba at second, and Atkins was thrown out trying to advance to third.

Etc.

Right-hander Speier arrived at Coors Field in the middle of the game Sunday and made his 2008 debut in the 10th inning, issuing a walk and allowing an inherited runner to score on an infield single before recording the final out of the frame. Speier replaces Luis Vizcaino, who was put on the 15-day disabled list Saturday. . . . The Rockies scored the first run of a game for the first time this season. . . . Shortstop Troy Tulo- witzki broke an 0-for-18 slide with an infield single in the first inning. . . . Todd Helton has at least one hit in every game. . . . Arizona third baseman Reynolds went 6-for-13 in the series with two home runs and six RBI. . . . Arizona's previous three-game sweep at Coors Field was July 7-9, 2006. . . . Right-hander Samuel Deduno, who was scheduled to return to Double-A Tulsa, underwent ligament replacement surgery on his right elbow Wednesday and will be sidelined for about a year. Deduno went 5-8 with a 5.44 ERA last year and led the Texas League with 121 strikeouts in 124 innings, though he didn't join the Drillers until May.

NUMBERS GAME

69 diamonds on each National League championship ring the Rockies received before the game Sunday. The 1.25-carat rings feature white gold with a purple amethyst "CR" on top, eight stones representing each postseason win (including the wild-card tiebreaker), and the overall 2007 record of 90-73 inside each person's ring.

STRONG DEBUT

Left-hander Franklin Morales eased any concerns he might have raised during his erratic spring training with a solid effort in his first start this.

Morales allowed 29 hits, 10 walks and 16 earned runs in 212/3 innings in the Cactus League, but those struggles seemed distant against Arizona. Morales threw six shutout innings, allowing only two hits, with three walks and two strikeouts, before giving way to the bullpen after 96 pitches.

Morales retired the first 11 Arizona hitters before escaping trouble in the fourth after loading the bases, and he capped his day by striking out Mark Reynolds, who tortured the Rockies all weekend.

"I thought he did a fantastic job," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "There were some innings . . . when he had to get himself out of some situations. Overall, what a good outing. They didn't take good swings at him."

LINEUP SHUFFLE

Clint Barmes and Scott Podsednik made their starting debuts Sunday, with Barmes getting the nod at second base and Podsednik starting in center field while hitting leadoff. Barmes went 0-for-2 before getting replaced by Jayson Nix, and Podsednik went 1-for-4 and made several nice running catches. Barmes and Podsednik were the final Rockies position players who had not yet made a start this season.

HE SAID IT

"It was pretty bright, so that was pretty cool."

Garrett Atkins, Rockies third baseman, on his reaction to seeing his ring for the first time.

Scouting report: Atlanta Braves

* Series history: The Braves lead 82-46 overall, 40-26 in Denver and 28-25 at Coors Field.

* Roster report: Pitcher Mike Hampton was placed on the 15- day disabled list Friday after straining his left pectoral muscle while warming up Thursday for what would have been his first appearance in the majors since Aug. 19, 2005. Left-hander Jo-Jo Reyes was recalled from Triple-A Richmond but optioned back there Sunday when John Smoltz was activated for his start. Left-hander Chuck James will be activated to start Wednesday, taking Hampton's spot in the rotation. Pitcher Mike Gonzalez and infielder Omar Infante are on the 15-day disabled list.

* Quickly: Right fielder Jeff Francoeur has started 332 consecutive games, the longest current streak in the National League and second in the majors to Cleveland's Grady Sizemore. . . . Kelly Johnson's pinch-hit grand slam Saturday against the Mets was the first for the Braves since Julio Franco did it June 27, 2005, at Florida. . . . Chipper Jones had gotten a hit in the first five Braves games before going 0-for-3 on Sunday.

Pat Rooney contributed to this report.

Comments

  • April 6, 2008

    5:10 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Chadley25 writes:

    I'm not sure what's more bothersome to me, the 1-5 record or the "eh, we're not concerned" attitude of the Rockies. Yes, I know it's a very long season, and one week isn't going to make or break it, but it's incredibly easy to dig an inescapable hole in April.

    The one bright spot today was Franklin Morales' pitching performance. Offense continues to be frighteningly bad... 10 runs scored so far this season, which is an average of 1.67 per game. 4-for-42 with RISP is a very depressing statistic. I sort of understand the Rockies' need to present a calm demeanor and stiff upper lip to the fans, but we're not fools... this is a really bad start that's doing nothing but giving ammo to people who said last year's run to the World Series was only a fluke.

  • April 6, 2008

    5:59 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    mjo1985 writes:

    Yes, we are definately not in panic mode right now but it's not what we wanted out of the gate. I liked that Hurdle moved things around in the lineup a little bit today but he proved utterly useless during the game. He is afraid to make any kind of move offensively. There is no reason Podsednik and Tulo whould not of been running in a 3-2 count in the first. This is how your create runs when you are not scoring them put the pressure on the D-back and jump on them early. Instead, the runners were not sent and Helton grounds into a double play that Tulo gave him no help on. Tulo either run Hudson into the ground or stop in your tracks. He did the worst thing he could of done in that situation. We need a better effort. Anyone agree?

  • April 6, 2008

    6:42 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    cpeterson writes:

    The whole thing for the Rockies when Jay Alves and the Rockies betrayed their fans and sold all of their World Series tickets over the internet - many to Red Sox fans.

    We paid to build the stadium. We supported the team for 15 years. Jay Alves sold our World Series tickets to Bostonians and they had a party in our stadium.

    The team is 1 and 9 since then.

    The Jay Alves curse will haunt the Rockies like that goat haunts the Cubs. Bad Karma beats PR any day.

    And anyone who thinks this is unfair to Alves, remember his quote from Boston that he was too busy to be bothered by " a silly ticket issue."

  • April 7, 2008

    9:10 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Tracy Ringolsby writes:

    Jay Alves has nothing to do with ticketing.

  • April 7, 2008

    9:21 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Keno33 writes:

    Lets wake up! You can't win the division in April, but you sure can lose it. I think no matter how much you try the spot light does affect your game. Perhaps now that the party weekend is over the team can get back to focusing on playing the game.

  • April 7, 2008

    11:28 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    kurtray writes:

    I was at both the Friday opener and the Sunday afternoon game, and there was an encouraging difference in the energy of the team as well as the crowd on Sunday.

    Obviously, Morales had a great start with a fantastic defensive squad backing him up. When Corpas hiccupped in the 9th, the "rally mode" that defined the late/post-season 2007 Rockies kicked in. The feeling was palplable, and encouraging: Holliday got off the stick and finally got one over the wall, and the crowd was behind the team in a very encouraging way.

    Let's see if they can build on this start of momentum... and hopefully Matt and Troy will stop their tantrums of throwing bats and helmets!

  • April 7, 2008

    11:57 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Squatch writes:

    Dead Bats dont win games. You can have a guy pitch a great game but if nobody hits for crap then it is all for not. It is early and they should be able to get it rolling again.

    Problem is other teams pitcher have already figured the big bat the rockies have.